a prayer for Wednesday (and beyond)

I Timothy 2:1-2 implies that one cannot begin to righteously criticize the government unless one is praying for those leaders. Paraphrasing C.S. Lewis: whatever prayer does for others (and however it might move God), it certainly helps us. It may not change the hearts of others, but it changes our hearts-- and that alone makes it worth the effort and discipline.

My prayer for Wednesday and beyond-- with respect to the Presidential race, federal politics, and our country...

For the winner and the loser, that they would...
-accept God's gracious gift of salvation (if they haven't already); 
-become fervent disciples of Jesus, walking with the Spirit in the process of sanctification; 
-be much more comfortable in the goodness of God's Kingdom; 
-care much more for the downtrodden and the marginal;
-walk away from self-gratification and hypocrisy

For the avid supporters of each, that they would...
-see their political idolatry and walk away from it
-no longer self-style as liberals and conservatives-- and actually live up to one of those labels (or even, Libertarian!)
-have much higher standards in political matters

For whichever is elected, that they...
-wouldn't take us into war, bankruptcy, and another decade of tepid economic growth
-would not govern illiberally and work to further reduce civil liberties 
 -if Hillary is elected, that she will reverse course and not perpetuate our culture's general division between elites and deplorables
-if Donald is elected, that he will reverse course and not perpetuate hatreds of those in particular groups

-if Donald is elected, that he will not go all-crazy on us, getting us into all sorts of unnecessary trouble-if Hillary is elected, that she will not go all-Nixon on us, swamped in corruption and engaged in rampant lying

-if Hillary is elected, that she would begin to care for the working poor and middle class, rather than seeing them as political pawns
-if Donald is elected, that he would recognize the beauty and power of voluntary, mutually beneficial trade-- even across political boundaries

But I won't pray about those things too much...

Will it really matter?
-Maybe with continued Congressional fecklessness, the President/Congress combo means that it doesn't really matter that much. 
-Maybe science and coherent metaphysics will finally persuade the Left to fight for the civil rights of the most vulnerable in our society-- the unborn. 
-Maybe the GOP will move to a belief in smaller government and fiscal responsibility.
-Maybe the economy will continue to stay healthy enough to stay ahead of all of the regulations, subsidies, taxes, and garbage that will be passed in the next 2-8 years.
-God's Kingdom is so much bigger and better than all of this. "Our Father in Heaven...your Kingdom come; your Will be done on Earth..."

Or I won't pray for those things too much, because I have more important things to do.
-My vote is trivial next to my voice, so I will continue to speak prophetically against the tens of millions of "liberals" who are not liberal and the tens of millions of "conservatives" who aren't conservative; and against the political 1%-- those who abuse government power to enrich themselves and harm others. 
-My ability to impact people outside of government-- family, students, neighbors, disciples of Jesus, etc.-- is far more important than whatever will happen with our government. And so, I will redouble my dependence on the Spirit and my Kingdom work-- to love and serve others.
Please join me-- in prayer and in action. 
Grace and peace to you on Election Night 2016 and beyond...eric